The present invention relates generally to wireless data transmission from a remote device and more specifically to predicting and selecting a best available wireless channel for wireless transmission of the data.
Remote processing devices can include one or more means for communicating with either a back end system or other external system. With the advancement of wireless technologies, there is an increase in the number of available wireless transmission channels. Each of these channels include inherent costs and benefits based various factors such as the transmission cost, the available bandwidth and network availability. Typically, the channels having higher bandwidth and greater network availability also have a higher transmission cost. Therefore, when multiple channels are available, it can be beneficial to select the best channel to achieve the data transmission and limit associated costs.
It is known in various remote processing devices to select between available networks. In existing multi-modal communication techniques, the remote device selects between available networks as they become available. For example, a remote device, such as a mobile phone, may use a cellular network to begin a wireless communication. Then, when the mobile phone recognizes the presence of an available wireless local area network (commonly referred to as a hotspot), the mobile phone simply converts to the wireless network and disconnects the cellular transmission. This may afford the user a cost savings based on the less expensive wireless network over the costly cellular transmission costs. Although, with existing multi-modal communication techniques, network transmission switching is only performed when the mobile device is actively transmitting and there is an active need to examine and compare available networks.
In another technique, as described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/325,824, entitled “Priority Assignment and Transmission of Sensor Data,” data messages are assigned to be transmitted by selected channels based on pre-examination of the data message in relation to the cost of existing channels. This technique includes queuing the messages into buffers assigned to each transmission channel, then when the channel becomes available, the messages in the queue are directly transmitted. In this approach, the messages remained queued until the mobile device enters the transmission range of the associated channel or until the mobile device re-evaluates the queued message for the selection of alternative transmission channels.
In another technique, as described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/351,466, entitled “Transmission of Sensor Data Based on Geographical Navigational Data,” in addition to queuing of data messages, travel directions of the mobile device are also examined. In this technique, the travel directions of the mobile device may be associated with a mapping or navigational system, such as found in a motor vehicle, for example, and compared to the network service areas defined by the service providers. Based on the navigational data, the data messages may be queued or transferred between queues for transmission such as using either wireless or physically hard-wired connections in relation to the assigned priority of the data message.
In these existing approaches, techniques for improving the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of wireless transmissions is based on either an examination of the message to be sent or an examination of the currently available networks during active transmission. The multi-modal communication device's examination of different channels is limited to active transmission times, such as notifying the user of available networks, such as an on-screen display or indicator, or actively switching channels during active communication sessions. The queueing approaches examine the priority of the message and the navigational data that anticipates the directed directions of the mobile device.